Home telephone service is advantageously delivered through a single “line” (i.e., a single telephone number) that may be connected to a multiplicity of ports so that multiple phone units may be used, simultaneously or individually, on the line. The individual phone units are commonly distributed throughout the home, and may be located, for example, in bedrooms, kitchens, family rooms, home offices, etc. Similar systems may also be used in non-home situations, such as small offices, apartments, condominiums, clubs, etc.
When a call is received by the “home” phone line, the call is typically transmitted to each of the telephone ports that share the common telephone number, with the call generally being transmitted by a wired or wireless network to the various telephone ports. With existing technology, however, the calls are routed non-selectively to the existing telephone ports, and the home or office owner does not have the ability to control the details of how the call is routed through the home or office network. This may cause problems when, for example, a call coming into the home late at night must be sent to all telephone ports regardless of the location of the port.
Similarly, when calls are originated by a telephone of a multi-port home or office telephone network, the home or office owner is not presently able to control the details of which ports may place a call. This allows all ports that share the common number to be able to, for example, place a long distance call regardless of whether that call is allowed or authorized by the home owner.
A solid medium land line such as a metal wire or a fiber optic cable is commonly used to ensure security and a high quality of service for home telephone service. Common calling methods using such solid medium land lines include public switched telephone network (PSTN), and voice over internet protocol (VOIP) services.
When a call is transmitted over a solid medium land line, it is known to utilize certain communication technologies to improve the telephone experience. For example, caller ID (also known also as caller identification, or, more properly, “calling number identification”) is a commonly-available telephone service that transmits a caller's number to the called party's telephone equipment during the ringing signal to allow the call recipient to know the number that the call is coming from. With some systems, caller ID also provides a name associated with the calling telephone number to further identify the caller. The number and/or name is typically displayed on the receiving party's telephone, although in some cases it may be displayed on a separate device.
Global address books (also known as global address lists) are a commonly-available directory service for e-mail systems that contains information for all e-mail users, distribution groups, and exchange resources. Each address list can contain one or more types of objects (for example, users, contacts, groups, public folders, conferencing, and other resources), and is typically used to organize recipients and resources, making it easier to find the desired recipients and resources.
As previously indicated though, in spite of the availability of caller ID and global address books, systems to allow a user to more selectively and efficiently manage incoming and outgoing calls on single-line telephone networks are not presently available. The present invention addresses that need.